The world record holder for the marathon Haile Gebrselassie announced today he will not be participating in the Beijing Olympics marathon this summer, claiming the air pollution is so bad in China that it would be an undue risk to his health. He suffers from exercise induced asthma but will still run in the shorter 10,000 meter race. This is probably the first in many stories about the horrible environmental conditions in China and how they will effect both the people native to the country, as well as the visiting athletes in August.

But more importantly, the world record holder in the marathon has asthma!? How is that even possible??